An insurance company should do much more than cover your car. And some, it seems, might not even do that...
NOTHING IS SURE in life, they say. For the unexpected, luckily there is insurance.
And while insurance is sometimes optional, for car owners it is mandatory. That doesn’t mean that little thought should be given to it or that the cheapest, simplest policy will do.
That’s one lesson learnt by 55-year-old Kia owner, Andrew. With a zero accident record after 33 years behind the wheel, he was an insurance company’s dream.
Yet, he would soon discover that some insurers, instead of helping, only serve to compound a nightmare situation.
Andrew had previously been a customer with AIG. His policy was bundled with the Kia that he had bought from Cycle & Carriage − such arrangements are common with car companies that have teams who carefully choose insurance partners which meet their standards.
But when it came to renewal time, Andrew was tempted by an e-mail offer from an online insurer who promised the cheapest policies in town. “I received a direct mailer,” he said. “For fun, I went to log on and key in my details, and it came back with a price that was more expensive than AIG,” he said. That was probably a warning sign that promises can be easier to make than to deliver.
Andrew emailed them to ask why their policy would cost more than that of a large, established insurer like AIG. He was quickly contacted by a representative. “Then came the person in charge of marketing, who said, “Oh, don’t worry, we will match or even better AIG’s offer.”
In the end, he was tempted by a No-Claims Discount protector, which would allow him to make a claim without jeopardising his NCD. “As per what marketing people do, they are very good at selling,” says Andrew.
He would soon find out the disconnect between the online insurer’s promises and reality.
Driving along the SLE towards Seletar Airport one day, Andrew found himself headed towards an object in the middle lane. With vehicles to the left and right of his car, he was forced to drive straight over it and his car was damaged as a result.
Then on a routine trip to Johor Bahru, despite being careful enough to park his car in a busy area, Andrew had his windows smashed by a thief who disappeared with his belongings.
After making a police report, he contacted the online insurer, only to have his ordeal prolonged instead of ended. “There were different people giving different instructions, back-and-forth emails, un-replied emails,” he says. “I kept being transferred to different departments without any resolution in sight.
“The most frightening thing was when they told me to go ahead with the repairs, but when it came down to the claim, I was told that the insurance policy wasn’t going to cover the costs. It was like borrowing money from a loan shark,” says Andrew.
Unable to claim for either repairs, he switched back to his original insurance provider, AIG, and decided to leave the disappointment of the experience behind. “This was two or three years ago. It wasn’t very pleasant at all,” he said.
Incidents like these are never pleasant, of course, but they don’t have to end that way. An earlier insurance claim by Andrew shows how the right partners can help to resolve an unfortunate incident.
Years ago, he was rear-ended while waiting at a zebra crossing. All he had to do was to drive to Cycle & Carriage and leave his damaged car there, while the company’s workshop worked with AIG to take care of things.
The lesson here is that many people feel like they buy insurance to cover their car, but it’s best to choose an insurer who covers you
